Source: New Zealand Police
On Thursday 27 November the Murihiku community came together at Invercargill’s ILT Stadium to celebrate Hāpori Manawaroa ki Murihiku, the Southern Resilience to Organised Crime in Communities (ROCC) work programme, and its efforts over the past year.
In attendance were many of the community providers, organisations and agencies who are part of the work programme, as well as special guests including Associate Minister of Police, the Honorable Casey Costello, Police Southern District Commander Superintendent Jason Guthrie, Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell, local government representatives, and iwi. The event also included performances form local rangatahi groups.
The ROCC work programme was launched in Southland in March 2023 and was gifted the name Hāpori Manawaroa ki Murihiku by local kaumatua. This name reflects the fortitude, strength and stamina of the Murihiku community, resonating with those involved in the programme. A source of pride since its inception has been the magnitude and quality of local buy-in from key Southland stakeholders.
The event provided the opportunity for Minister Costello to revisit and celebrate the successes of the programme of work over the past 12 months, having attended the announcement of the successful ROCC initiatives in 2024. Service providers were also able to share their experiences and details of their projects with the Minister over the course of the celebratory event.
Alongside Southland Police’s sustained focus and successes in enforcing organised crime, the Hāpori Manawaroa ki Murihiku and ROCC work programme has continued to enable local communities to become more connected, and has worked hard to reduce the chance of organised crime and its harmful effects to take root.
A key part of this has been the number of partnership initiatives backed through the ROCC programme of work that Southern District Police have been proud to be involved with.
Southern District Commander Superintendent Jason Guthrie spoke about this collective pride at the celebration event.
“I think it’s important to have an occasion like this, where we can come together and reflect on the many ‘wins’ we are achieving through our community-driven, efforts that are tailor-made for our own Southern Communities.”
Superintendent Guthrie went on to outline a number of the providers that have received funding through the Community Resilience and Whānau Support funding, that Police have been able to assist through the ROCC work programme.
This has included the Gore Blue Light registered charity that works alongside Police, which has this year been able to create camp experiences for local rangatahi aimed at building leadership skills, confidence and encouraging goal-setting. This also included an intensive week-long Life Skills Camp at Burnham Military Camp for seven youth participants as part of an alternative resolution pathway, away from the Youth Court justice system.
“I’m really pleased to say that our local participants in this course returned home with renewed engagement in school, with some gaining part-time or full-time employment, and have not come back to Police attention.” said Superintendent Guthrie.
Another of the many initiatives undertaken throughout the year that was highlighted was the Police partnership with Plunket services, in running special traffic checkpoints to ensure child restraints are correct and safe. Through the funding received, brand new child restraints and seating were able to be provided for those who were found to have unsafe or not fit-for-purpose child restraints.
“And that’s what the ROCC kaupapa is all about,” said Superintendent Guthrie. “This is the kind of prevention work and support Police can, and will, continue to provide alongside our persistent and targeted enforcement of organised crime in Southern Communities.
“Our Southern Organised Crime Units have been able to make some massive dents in the local distribution of meth through their excellent enforcement work, which removes a lot of harm from our streets.
“However, we simply can’t arrest our way out of the harm that organised crime and meth inflict on our communities. That’s why we are so proud and privileged to be part of the important prevention work alongside our highly valued partners, community agencies and organisations working under ROCC.”
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre.